New Eurostar trains: Alstom out, Siemens in

[kyser_soze]

So the Germans will be building the next lot of Eurostars:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11491048

There must have been some bitter wailing and gnashing of teeth in Paris yesterday...

 

[DotCommunist]

siemens in lol

 

[TitanSound]

So the Germans will be building the next lot of Eurostars:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11491048

There must have been some bitter wailing and gnashing of teeth in Paris yesterday...

Interesting at the bottom of that article about Deutsche Bahn wanting to run trains from London to Cologne and Frankfurt. Good idea me thinks. I would be well up for that journey.

 

[kyser_soze]

It'll be these trains:

Better article too:

http://www.railnews.co.uk/news/general/2010/10/04-eurostar-chooses-siemens-but-french.html

 

[TitanSound]

Ha...those bloody French hamstrung by their own love for the EU.

This particular political row has to be carried on in whispers, because officially favouring one state’s train-builder over another in this way would be a breach of European Union law.

 

[Crispy]

Who's going down to St. Pancras on the 19th to press their nose against the glass then?

 

[TitanSound]

Who's going down to St. Pancras on the 19th to press their nose against the glass then?

I might make the short bike ride

 

[paolo]

Who's going down to St. Pancras on the 19th to press their nose against the glass then?

Any idea what time the train will be there?

Maybe I can buy an Ian Allen DB book, and strike a single number out.

 

[teuchter]

It'll be these trains:

Not quite - that is a Velaro D which is the latest-generation ICE train being built for DB and it is the type that DB will use for international services and also intend to use for the services from Germany to London that will hopefully start running in a couple of years.

The sets that Eurostar may be ordering are known as Velora e320 and are similar but not the same; for example they will be arranged as 16-car sets rather than the 8-car sets.

Both are an evolution from the ICE3 trains that currently run on DB high speed services. I was on a couple last week. Quite a nice novelty feature of them is that if you sit in the front compartment of the first car you can look through the driver's cab and out the front - looks like this will also be the case on the new ones:

I was also on the Eurostar the other day... have to say the interiors are starting to look rather tired and dated now. And they don't have stuff like power sockets at seats as is becoming normal these days.

 

[Crispy]

The E* trains have those nice headrests that you can lean sideways on. I like them

 

[TitanSound]

The E* trains have those nice headrests that you can lean sideways on. I like them

I've never understood why they are not standard on all coaches, trains and planes. Makes sleeping so much more comfy if you are a giant like me and have to sit bolt upright because there is no space for your legs

 

[teuchter]

The E* trains have those nice headrests that you can lean sideways on. I like them

Same here.

Legroom is better on the ICE trains though.

Another good thing about the ICE:

About €11 including the beer if I remember correctly

 

[g force]

Any chance of Saumsung Shinkansen 500-esque revolving seats so you can arrange seats as you like?

 

[kyser_soze]

Not quite - that is a Velaro D which is the latest-generation ICE train being built for DB and it is the type that DB will use for international services and also intend to use for the services from Germany to London that will hopefully start running in a couple of years.

From the Rail news article:

THE board of Eurostar has voted to proceed with a deal worth at least 600 million Euros to acquire 10 Siemens Velaro-D trains, each 400m long.

Apologies for the slacking in train-spoddishness.

 

[softybabe]

'Eurostar chooses Siemens'

Looks good! I can't wait....shame they waited this long to expand the direct routes really.

 

[teuchter]

Shame on Railnews.co.uk for such an appalling mistake.

 

[Crispy]

Oh, and of course these new E* trains will be built to European loading gauge, seeing as they don't have to go to Waterloo any more. Means more headroom and wider seats

 

[kyser_soze]

Apparently there's one on display in Hyde Park today:

http://www.railnews.co.uk/news/gene...ename=07-new-eurostar-train-displayed-in.html

 

[teuchter]

Oh, and of course these new E* trains will be built to European loading gauge, seeing as they don't have to go to Waterloo any more. Means more headroom and wider seats

Although no possibility of them running to regional UK destinations unless HS2 ever gets built.

 

[Crispy]

Although no possibility of them running to regional UK destinations unless HS2 ever gets built.

And the UK enters Schengen

 

[teuchter]

And the UK enters Schengen

Trains have run and still run across controlled borders for yonks without issue... I don't see why it should be a major obstacle in the case of Eurostar.

I think we have had this discussion before though.

 

[ViolentPanda]

siemens in lol

I admit that when I was walking along Siemensstraße in Berlin I had a bit of a LOL.

 

[agricola]

Both are an evolution from the ICE3 trains that currently run on DB high speed services. I was on a couple last week. Quite a nice novelty feature of them is that if you sit in the front compartment of the first car you can look through the driver's cab and out the front - looks like this will also be the case on the new ones:

Novelty pah! You could do that in most of the Class 101 derived vehicles.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seadipper/330091217/

next thing you will claim that these German things make the meep-meep sound when moving off

 

[JWH]

Trains have run and still run across controlled borders for yonks without issue... I don't see why it should be a major obstacle in the case of Eurostar.

Yeah, the UK wouldn't have to join Schengen - making it work some other way is just an organisational detail. If there were the political/commercial will, it could be done.

Quite a nice novelty feature of them is that if you sit in the front compartment of the first car you can look through the driver's cab and out the front

The other cool thing is (iirc from Cologne-Amsterdam a few years ago) they use those glass panels that go opaque and see-through using an electrical current. I have no idea what the practical application is but it's very cool.

siemens in lol

lol

 

[_pH_]

next thing you will claim that these German things make the meep-meep sound when moving off

Electrostars can do a nice little Thomas-the-tank-engine-style 'toot toot'

 

[teuchter]

The other cool thing is (iirc from Cologne-Amsterdam a few years ago) they use those glass panels that go opaque and see-through using an electrical current. I have no idea what the practical application is but it's very cool.

They do... but the result is that whenever the driver switches it to opaque, you wonder what it is they're trying to hide...

 

[teuchter]

next thing you will claim that these German things make the meep-meep sound when moving off

The electric motors do make some funny noises when they move off although they don't quite achieve a musical scale like

 

[paolo]

I'm confused now.

I'd read that DB were going to use paired units, with no walkthrough between them.

Does that mean the new Eurostars will be the same? Surely not?

Or is that these new Velaros can be set up as 18 or 9 car units?

 

[teuchter]

DB will use 8-car units which can be paired; Eurostar are ordering 16-car units. See my post no 9.

 

[paolo]

They do... but the result is that whenever the driver switches it to opaque, you wonder what it is they're trying to hide...

Catching up on email, late bidding on eBay auctions etc...

DB will use 8-car units which can be paired; Eurostar are ordering 16-car units. See my post no 9.

*goes off to read thread properly*